When you're trying to reinvent something that everyone already knows a lot about, you inevitably meet with a lot of negative reaction in the press and public. Look back to 2007 when Apple introduced the iPhone to an already "mature" cell-phone industry: "I can’t believe the hype being given to iPhone. I just have to wonder who will want one of these things," said Microsoft's Richard Sprague. More than 300 million iPhones later the answer is, "pretty much everyone." It's perhaps wise to keep that in mind as Tesla attempts to convince people to abandon cars powered by petroleum products for purely electric cars. That mission is "dead on arrival" if you are among the many who agree with Business Insider's Henry Blodget., not to mention countless others.

As this space discussed in Part 1, no one car can do everything, but pretty much all cars sold today -- even partial plug-ins like the Chevrolet Volt -- have a common attribute that's so simple and routine we all take it for granted: When the needle is approaching "E", we find a nearby station, pump all the gas we want and are back on the road. We're good to go for the next 200-500 miles or so, depending on the car we drive, and the whole process almost always takes less than 15 minutes, even at a busy station.

Electric vehicles just don't work that way

All the press coverage around the New York Times story, CNN's subsequent follow-up, and the attempt by a group of owners to replicate the Times route all suggest that Tesla has done a good job of creating the expectation that its new Model S can offer a gas-powered car experience. But Regina Gasser, a blogger in the Midwest goes even farther -- literally -- trying to take a winter roadtrip that she describes as such: "Normally a trip to and from Rochester (MN) with a stop in Dixon each way would take about 16 hours." Unfortunately for Gasser, the trip actually lasted an excruciating two and a half days.

Realistically, the NYT trip that started this whole kerfuffle in the first place is about as far as you can travel in a Tesla. The top-end models have about 265 miles of range, reduced in the winter due to slightly lower battery performance but mostly the need to heat the car. Thanks to Tesla's Supercharger stations -- a network of high-powered chargers that are located on major freeways -- you can recharge about 50% in 30 minutes and close to full in an hour. In extreme cold, this means you might only be able to put about 250 miles on the car in a day, even with a recharge stop. In more temperate climates, you could make the 380-mile trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles with just a single leisurely lunch at Harris Ranch and arrive with enough power leftover to make it out to dinner.

While a number of Tesla owners have made that SF-to-LA run several times already, it's quite frankly inconvenient. If you want to drive 75 mph, like most of the traffic on I-5, you'll likely need a second stop or one really long one. If your goal is more ambitious, say San Diego from tony Marin County, you have to really manage the where, when and how long of charging. When viewed this way, the car might seem like a huge pain in the rear.

But these scenarios -- while they make for great stories of stranded NYT reporters or freezing cold nights in Minnesota spent looking for what was likely going to be inadequate charging capability anyway -- largely miss the point. There's a lot of things a Tesla can do already that make it one of the best cars on the road and a close to no-compromises vehicle for its owner. It's no surprise the company has more than 10,000 people with paid "reservations" to take delivery of a vehicle as soon as Tesla can build them one.

35 miles each way, a typical "long commute"

Scenario 1: A Bay Area commute

In a country where 80% of commutes are 20 miles or less each way, this 35-mile one-way trip would be a long one at nearly twice that length. On a Model S, you could get there comfortably even on the smallest-battery configuration in any weather, driving very aggressively. You wouldn't need to find a charger at the office, which is good because competition for charging resources is already a real problem at some locations. On the larger-battery models, you could charge the car overnight only twice a week. A lot of Model S buyers out here are likely using their vehicles this way already. It's not uncommon for the well off to commute in Audi A8s, BMW 7-series or Mercedes S-class sedans, any of which can easily reach into the six figures (as can Model S).

The Tesla is whisper quiet, easily the equal of its German luxury counterparts. But it offers something they don't. Realistically, every week you'd need to stop at a gas station and fill your fossil-fuel based car to make a commute like this. With a Tesla, those stops are a thing of the past. It's worth mentioning that the same owner could comfortably make a trip up to wine country in the Napa Valley without worrying about finding a public charger. Heading down to Carmel from San Francisco would be a bit more challenging. You'd need to find some electricity to make it home comfortably.

About 100 miles from Manhattan, but a world away

Scenario 2: A place in the Hamptons

Leaving aside the issue of whether an Upper West Sider is likely to vacation out on the east end of Long Island, this scenario is a fairly typical vacation-home situation where it's 100 miles from the main residence to the getaway. While this would be unthinkable for a Nissan Leaf without a charge somewhere just past Islip (and that might not be impossible sometime very soon), it's doable for any of the variants of the Tesla. It's so doable, in fact, that the high-capacity variant could likely make it there and back without much difficulty. Over the course of a weekend of fun, even some standard at-home recharging on 110 volts would give one plenty of cushion. Obviously, the Hamptons homeowner with a Tesla will likely install a 240-volt charger, as most EV owners do, and return back to Manhattan in style with "half a tank" to spare.

Scenario 3: Real life

Sunday: Go to Sam's club, pick up the kids from soccer, grab takeout for dinner. Monday: Go to work, get the dry cleaning on the way home. Tuesday: More work, but also "date night" for mom and dad. And more or the same for the rest of the week. At no point are you driving more than 50-75 miles in a day. In fact, only 1% of drives ever exceed 100 miles. For perspective, that's fewer than 4 days a year where you are even thinking about the fact your car has a battery that might have a range issue. This isn't some science-fiction scenario, this is statistical data from the Department of Transportation. In a two-car family where the other car runs on gasoline, you can reduce those 4 worrisome days down to zero by taking the plain old car. But with a Model S, if your trip involved going from say Los Angeles to Las Vegas, you could take it in your Tesla (just be prepared to hit the Supercharger in Barstow).

No, the car can't go absolutely everywhere and perhaps Tesla deserves some criticism for helping foster the belief it can. But this is also a company that basically has made it clear that public charging in and around town isn't something important either. For Tesla, the Supercharger is something to use to make the occasional long trip; the rest of the time you charge at home. And during that "rest of the time" you are driving a vehicle that matches the acceleration of competitors from BMW but with instantaneous torque that only electric vehicles can deliver. You have the best passenger and cargo room of any vehicle in its class and style that subjectively is the equal of the competition.

It's true, even if Tesla achieves its goal of selling 20,o00 cars this year, that's a drop in the bucket -- around 0.1% of U.S. auto sales. And for now, only Tesla is making any serious attempt to sell electric cars that do anything more than go 70-80 miles before requiring a charge. It's easy to dismiss selling something really pricey to only a few customers as unimportant, "dead on arrival" or a "niche". Heck, just ask Apple. But it's quite possible that Tesla is onto something much more significant. More on that in an upcoming installment of the series.

In Part 3, a look at Tesla's financials after its first quarter selling Model S.